I own a dachshund named Gracie Mae; rather, I am owned by a dachsund named Gracie Mae. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the breed, allow me to explain. Dachsund dogs, 'doxies' for short, originated in Germany and were bred for the purpose of hunting badgers. 'Dachs' means badger, and 'Hund' means dog. Thus....Badger Dog. Don't let a dachshund's small size fool you. Doxies are ferocious hunters who not only search for and chase down their prey, but were bred to actually kill their prey as well. Give this dog a squeeker toy and that toy will be shaken and growled at until proven dead by said doxie. You can be sure of this. Many a night my family and I have been thoroughly entertained by giving our dog a squeeky toy. Once 'deaded', our dog also likes to tear these toys apart by pulling the stuffing out of them piece by piece until the entire rug has been covered in white fluff. (Believe me, the fun of watching Gracie dead her toy makes up for the time it takes to clean up the mess.)
Gracie's days in summer are spent purusing the yard for moles, rabbits, mice and ground hogs....anything her nose will lead her to. She is quite the hunter! I usually know when she has found something interesting because I can hear her bark and whine frantically as she burrows under the shrubbery. At first it seemed that she was only entertaining herself by enjoying the chase; but it didn't take long and I started noticing things.....dead things.... lying about the yard. This little hunter has become an expert at killing moles! She doesn't eat them, thank goodness, but she finds them, digs them out of their holes and kills them, leaving them as trophies throughout the yard.
Weenie, (our nickname for Gracie), is not limited to moles alone. As one can see from the photo above, (yes, that is Gracie), Weenie has caught several rabbits as well. The first rabbit was caught when Gracie was just a pup. Mark, my hubby, did not believe me when I first told him about Gracie's catch. My skeptical husband said that Weenie could never catch a rabbit because rabbits ran much too fast for her, and she was much too small. But the remains of that poor, slow rabbit lying in our yard were proof enough that Gracie had won her first trophy. Gracie's short little legs had proven her dad wrong, once and for all. Mark laughed in disbelief when he saw that poor dead rabbit lying in the yard. Gracie didn't care, though. She just smiled the way dogs always do when they are proud of themselves for whatever task they feel they have accomplished.
I am very impressed with this little wiener. I swear Gracie walks a little taller each time she proves that size has nothing to do with ability. Dachshund's legs may be only about 3 inches high, but in Gracie's mind size does not matter at all. Gracie Mae is walking tall! The late Elvis Presley will never be able to sing, 'You ain't nothing but a hound dog' to my ferocious doxie. Look out, badgers! Gracie is on the prowl!
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